A guide to parkour hotspots in a city of 56,000, complete with instructional photos. A reflection on a 2,000 mile journey across the country. An investigation of the best pizza places in a region famous for that culinary dish. These are just a few of the student works resulting from an assignment to create a “text” within Google Maps. In essence, students use Google Maps to make, annotate, and post their own map to the public, whose comments then factor into the ongoing development and revision of the map.
The assignment ( google_maps_assignment.pdf ) consists of the following parts: a student-created Google map, which requires adding text, images, video, or some mixture thereof to the interface’s existing searchable representation of terra firma; a critique of a text related to the place(s) in their map in some way (with the notion of “text” conceived broadly); and a reflection where students explain their composition process and rhetorical choices, including how their maps may have changed in response to viewer comments entered into Google Maps.
This has been an excellent introductory digital writing assignment for me. For one, the technological support needed to complete it, whether on or off campus, is very low. Instead of needing access to dedicated computer labs and software (not to mention being able to learn and use the software), students could do the assignment on their cellphones if they wanted to. Google Maps also provides strong tutorials that allow even novices to connect with the composing process (start with the video on the "My Maps" link after you open the Google Maps page). In addition, I use this assignment as the lead-off in FYC because it short-circuits the five-paragraph essay immediately; the physical spaces of the map generator force students to transcend that familiar structure and negotiate different cognitive forms. The Google Map project also provides students with "outside" readers who can respond in real time, which is helpful in developing a sense of audience and ethos, not to mention a way of showing the importance of revision. Last but not least, students tend to be engaged by the assignment because it provides new rhetorical challenges, as well as a way to give a broader voice to views that many of them feel have been neglected. In their reflections, students often say they were motivated to produce a newer, more positive understanding of an area or place that they feel has been painted in a negative light by traditional media outlets and then taken hold.
The assignment provides some interesting composing and rhetorical challenges to students. In the reflections, students often describe the difficulty of shaping discrete entries that don't have the luxury of overt transitions and unlimited paragraph space as found in print essays. They have to be rhetorically vigilant at all times about adding not only enough detail, but also too much detail, given the constraints. The spatial considerations of the assignment, many students mention, force them to consider audience in a detailed way they didn't have to when faced with writing essays. Also, the assignment forces students to consider new notions of ethos. Instead of expounding on a given topic and adopting the mantle of expert within a traditional student-to-teacher exchange, the assignment forces students to see expertise as an evolving, multifaceted construct. For one, students are sharing their work, usually about specific areas, with a wide audience that might know exponentially more about their topics and has the power to let the students know about it.
For assessment purposes, I value the map most highly (70%), followed by the critique (20%), and then the reflection (10%). With regard to due dates, I collect a basic design plan first, so I can provide feedback on their topic, audience, purpose, and choice of text to critique. The design plan is followed by a rough draft of the critique, and later by a rough draft of the map. Finally, after what amounts to a total of about four weeks from beginning to end, students hand in revised “final” drafts of the map and critique, as well as their reflection. In response to comments from both me and Google viewers, as well as whatever else they learn the rest of the semester, students also revise these final drafts for inclusion in their end-of-semester portfolios.
As far as ways to improve the assignment, a few things have stood out to me. One aspect some students brought up in their reflections, and which I never really considered, was that they had never once been to Google Maps (one student said, "Who would need Google Maps when we have GPS?"). And, since they had never even "heard" of it and their instructor was making them go there, they were under the opinion Google Maps was only for "old people." As a result, these students said the assignment was difficult to plan and execute because they felt like they were composing for a nebulous audience of adults they knew nothing about, instead of for, say, an audience of peers they were familiar with on a site they were familiar with. In many ways, I'm glad the assignment is not as rhetorically comfortable for them as composing as Facebook, but armed with this information, it makes me reconsider how to work through the assignment. When I first started the assignment, finding maps to show students that were little more than lists was difficult. However, now I am able to show maps that other students have created, ones that are obviously written by young people for young people (e.g., students seem to really connect with the map about musical venues in Philadelphia). This has also made me reinforce the importance of style in the map-composing process instead of what students would previously default to--a bare reliance on place names and the like. Thus, finding concrete ways to illustrate to students how their composing isn't going to connect to a nebulous digital audience of "everyone" but instead carves out its own audience is important.
Another aspect that many students struggle with is composing entries that might be so intensely personal that an audience would have trouble connecting with their sites. For this reason, I was contemplating moving this assignment to later in the semester and making it more of a research assignment that included aspects of advocacy. For example, students could research an area like Darfur and make annotations across the globe that explored different aspects of the issue and synthesized them to build more awareness--and make more of an argument--than the assignment in its current iteration (i.e., students could annotate places where refugee camps are, places where political decisions about Darfur have been made, headquarters of charities looking to help the region, etc.). In deciding whether to move this later in the semester and make it more research-oriented, however, I need to factor in how the things that work well now (such as breaking familiar writing patterns and providing limited composition space) might actually work against it. Either way, drop by during our poster session and I'd be glad to discuss this assignment with you and to hear your input on it as well.
Kutztown University
A guide to parkour hotspots in a city of 56,000, complete with instructional photos. A reflection on a 2,000 mile journey across the country. An investigation of the best pizza places in a region famous for that culinary dish. These are just a few of the student works resulting from an assignment to create a “text” within Google Maps. In essence, students use Google Maps to make, annotate, and post their own map to the public, whose comments then factor into the ongoing development and revision of the map.
The assignment ( google_maps_assignment.pdf ) consists of the following parts: a student-created Google map, which requires adding text, images, video, or some mixture thereof to the interface’s existing searchable representation of terra firma; a critique of a text related to the place(s) in their map in some way (with the notion of “text” conceived broadly); and a reflection where students explain their composition process and rhetorical choices, including how their maps may have changed in response to viewer comments entered into Google Maps.
This has been an excellent introductory digital writing assignment for me. For one, the technological support needed to complete it, whether on or off campus, is very low. Instead of needing access to dedicated computer labs and software (not to mention being able to learn and use the software), students could do the assignment on their cellphones if they wanted to. Google Maps also provides strong tutorials that allow even novices to connect with the composing process (start with the video on the "My Maps" link after you open the Google Maps page). In addition, I use this assignment as the lead-off in FYC because it short-circuits the five-paragraph essay immediately; the physical spaces of the map generator force students to transcend that familiar structure and negotiate different cognitive forms. The Google Map project also provides students with "outside" readers who can respond in real time, which is helpful in developing a sense of audience and ethos, not to mention a way of showing the importance of revision. Last but not least, students tend to be engaged by the assignment because it provides new rhetorical challenges, as well as a way to give a broader voice to views that many of them feel have been neglected. In their reflections, students often say they were motivated to produce a newer, more positive understanding of an area or place that they feel has been painted in a negative light by traditional media outlets and then taken hold.
Here are some student examples:
A Guide to Parkour Hotspots in Lancaster:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=101701984679234796945.000475c3db0bfe5633fc1&z=13
Wonderland:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&vps=1&jsv=185c&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=115356478820198599032.000475b44c1860920775a
A Guide to English Pubs
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=114295991467383612394.00047e18e9bf2c676d03a&t=h&z=9
Musical Venues In Philadelphia
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=100513294598700335182.00047f0e70a15fcfddd6b&ll=39.977252,-75.151463&spn=0.032294,0.084543&z=14
Travel Tips in Europe:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=116897814082982810549.0004763dd5b8854b29d25&z=5
The Best Philly Cheesesteaks
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=116027477256180406071.00047f0a7260ca978ff09&z=12
Nature Trails of Southeastern Pennsylvania
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=116113144610180399609.00047e2d51fc5d63c5a46&t=h&z=9
Scenic Spots near Reading, Pennsylvania
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=116749183697761683794.00047e15eee38395f5f3a&ll=40.78678,-75.211029&spn=0.455424,1.352692&z=10
Best Freshwater Fishing Spots in NW New New Jersey
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=108048965303593307366.00047f06060f2ec7f23e7&ll=41.286578,-74.736557&spn=0.231149,0.673599&z=11&iwloc=00047f099d674213dff1d
The assignment provides some interesting composing and rhetorical challenges to students. In the reflections, students often describe the difficulty of shaping discrete entries that don't have the luxury of overt transitions and unlimited paragraph space as found in print essays. They have to be rhetorically vigilant at all times about adding not only enough detail, but also too much detail, given the constraints. The spatial considerations of the assignment, many students mention, force them to consider audience in a detailed way they didn't have to when faced with writing essays. Also, the assignment forces students to consider new notions of ethos. Instead of expounding on a given topic and adopting the mantle of expert within a traditional student-to-teacher exchange, the assignment forces students to see expertise as an evolving, multifaceted construct. For one, students are sharing their work, usually about specific areas, with a wide audience that might know exponentially more about their topics and has the power to let the students know about it.
For assessment purposes, I value the map most highly (70%), followed by the critique (20%), and then the reflection (10%). With regard to due dates, I collect a basic design plan first, so I can provide feedback on their topic, audience, purpose, and choice of text to critique. The design plan is followed by a rough draft of the critique, and later by a rough draft of the map. Finally, after what amounts to a total of about four weeks from beginning to end, students hand in revised “final” drafts of the map and critique, as well as their reflection. In response to comments from both me and Google viewers, as well as whatever else they learn the rest of the semester, students also revise these final drafts for inclusion in their end-of-semester portfolios.
As far as ways to improve the assignment, a few things have stood out to me. One aspect some students brought up in their reflections, and which I never really considered, was that they had never once been to Google Maps (one student said, "Who would need Google Maps when we have GPS?"). And, since they had never even "heard" of it and their instructor was making them go there, they were under the opinion Google Maps was only for "old people." As a result, these students said the assignment was difficult to plan and execute because they felt like they were composing for a nebulous audience of adults they knew nothing about, instead of for, say, an audience of peers they were familiar with on a site they were familiar with. In many ways, I'm glad the assignment is not as rhetorically comfortable for them as composing as Facebook, but armed with this information, it makes me reconsider how to work through the assignment. When I first started the assignment, finding maps to show students that were little more than lists was difficult. However, now I am able to show maps that other students have created, ones that are obviously written by young people for young people (e.g., students seem to really connect with the map about musical venues in Philadelphia). This has also made me reinforce the importance of style in the map-composing process instead of what students would previously default to--a bare reliance on place names and the like. Thus, finding concrete ways to illustrate to students how their composing isn't going to connect to a nebulous digital audience of "everyone" but instead carves out its own audience is important.
Another aspect that many students struggle with is composing entries that might be so intensely personal that an audience would have trouble connecting with their sites. For this reason, I was contemplating moving this assignment to later in the semester and making it more of a research assignment that included aspects of advocacy. For example, students could research an area like Darfur and make annotations across the globe that explored different aspects of the issue and synthesized them to build more awareness--and make more of an argument--than the assignment in its current iteration (i.e., students could annotate places where refugee camps are, places where political decisions about Darfur have been made, headquarters of charities looking to help the region, etc.). In deciding whether to move this later in the semester and make it more research-oriented, however, I need to factor in how the things that work well now (such as breaking familiar writing patterns and providing limited composition space) might actually work against it. Either way, drop by during our poster session and I'd be glad to discuss this assignment with you and to hear your input on it as well.